Gift card assembly and method

ABSTRACT

A gift card system includes a gift card imprinted with indicia identifying the issuer, an adhesively coated security label permanently adhered to the card and imprinted on one surface with the value of the gift, and a gift record for recording information concerning the gift including the date of issuance and the value thereof. A recording sheet providing the gift record and the opposite surface of the substrate and the face of the recording sheet have cooperating interactive coatings thereon to imprint the recording sheet. A second security label is substantially permanently adhered on the first security label and imprinted with a reduced value to reflect a partial charge against the value on the first mentioned security label.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to gift cards and, more particularly, to agift card system which is readily operated by manual entries on variouscomponents of the system.

Over the years, businesses have issued gift certificates to customerswhich are then provided to other persons for redemption by the purchaseof merchandise from the issuing store. In recent years, electronic giftcards have been valued by swiping of the pertinent information into acomputer system from the magnetic strip and/or bar code on the giftcard, and this has been particularly the case with respect to issuerswith multiple store locations since the data is then available in acentral file.

Partial redemption of a gift certificate or card remains a problem andvarious techniques have been employed in an effort to accommodate thesituation of a partial redemption and to avoid the dispensing of cashrepresenting the difference between the partial redemption and the totalvalue of the certificate. In some instances, this has involved theissuance of a new certificate or entries entered manually on theoriginal gift certificate or card to reflect the reduction in value.

The manual imprinting of certificates has generally required separatemanual recording of information in a record book with the potential forerror and use of time for double entry of the information when the salesperson may have customers waiting for other transactions.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel manual giftcard system which is simple and enables relatively rapid generation of agift card.

It is also an object to provide such a system which uses relativelyeconomical components.

Another object is to provide such a system which enables simplegeneration of a certificate reflecting the balance on the gift followingpartial redemption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has now been found that the foregoing and related objects andadvantages may be readily attained in a gift card system which includesa gift card imprinted with indicia identifying the issuer, and anadhesively coated security label permanently adhered to the card andimprinted on one surface with the value of the gift. A gift record isused to record information concerning the gift including the date ofissuance and the value thereof.

A multiplicity of security labels have a reverse surface releasablymounted on one surface of a substrate. A recording sheet providing thegift record is provided behind the substrate and the opposite surface ofthe substrate and the face of the recording sheet have cooperatinginteractive coatings thereon to effect the imprinting of the register.The security label has security indicia imprinted thereon.

A second security label may be substantially permanently adhered on thefirst mentioned security label and imprinted with a reduced value toreflect a partial charge against the value on the first mentionedsecurity label.

The gift record may include a ledger in which issuance of gift cards andredemption thereof are recorded. The security labels are paper with anadhesive coating on the rear surface thereof.

The card is fabricated from synthetic resin. The security labels may bereadily peeled from the substrate.

The gift card issuance includes the steps of providing a gift cardimprinted with indicia identifying the issuer, recording on a firstsurface of a security label the value of the gift. The other surface ofthe security label is adhered to the gift card. The date of issuance andthe value of the gift are simultaneously recorded on a gift record.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the several components of a gift cardprogram embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a security label sheet comprising asubstrate upon which are releasably adhered a multiplicity of securitylabels, and a recording sheet;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view thereof along the line 3-3 ofFIG. 4;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view thereof showing the individual labels on asubstrate, and a recording sheet, a single certificate being shown in aremoved position;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the gift card and security label prior toits mounting on the gift card;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a gift card with a security label being mountedthereon;

FIG. 7 is a similar view with a second security label being applied overthe first label to reflect the reduced value of the card followingpartial redemption;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet from a gift certificateregister with information imprinted thereon to reflect two entries; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of a gift certificate summary sheetwith information imprinted thereon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT

Turning first to FIG. 1 of the attached drawings, the principalcomponents of the gift card system of the present invention areillustrated therein as comprising a gift card generally designated bythe numeral 10, a sheet or substrate 11 on which are adhered amultiplicity of security labels generally designated by the numeral 12,and a gift certificate record book generally designated by the numeral14. Behind the security labels 12 is a substrate 11 and a recordingsheet 13. Also shown is a poster 16 to provide the sale of the giftcards.

FIG. 2 fragmentarily shows a substrate or release paper-sheet 11 onwhich one releasably adhered security labels 12 by a coating of adhesive(not shown) on the reverse side of the labels 12. FIG. 3 is afragmentarily sectional view along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 with a label12 being pulled from the substrate 11 and also showing the recordingsheet 13.

The rear surface of the substrate 13 has a coating (not shown) whichreacts with a coating (not shown) on the recording sheet 13 whenmicrocapsules are ruptured by the pressure of the writing element toreproduce the indicia being entered onto the label 12 on the recordingsheet 13.

FIG. 4 shows the assembly of recording sheet 13, substrate 11 andsecurity labels 12 which are generally provided as a set as illustrated.The recording sheet 13 is conveniently imprinted with border lines 22cooperatively dimensioned with respect to the security labels to providea clear separation of the information which will be imprinted thereonand corresponding to the entries on the corresponding security label 12.These will include the entries concerning date and value (and a check inthe box for partial redemption when a new security label is to beaffixed to the card), the imprinted security label 12 is peeled from thesubstrate 11 as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 and affixed to the card 10 as seenin FIG. 6. If the security label 12 b is to reflect a partialredemption, it is affixed over the original security label 12 a as seenin FIG. 7.

Turning next to the record book 14, it includes a multiplicity ofcertificate record pages 24 shown in FIG. 8, and the pages with amultiplicity of lines 26 defining columns and rows. The specificinformation to be recorded and the order can vary depending upon thedesires of the program user. In the illustration of FIG. 8, the date ofissuance, the certificate number and value of the certificate have beenentered in the first row. Also entered is an entry as to the shift andthe number 01 to reflect the issue of only one certificate on that date.

The second row reflects an entry of information concerning a partialredemption of the gift certificate on Feb. 5, 2004 for the amount of $75which will result in the issuance of a second security label in theamount of the balance of $25. The rightmost column recaps the value ofoutstanding gift certificates.

FIG. 9 shows a monthly summary sheet 28 for the value of giftcertificates issued and the value of certificates redeemed. It alsoshows the value of certificates issued by the several salespersons.

The steps involved in the issuance of the card or in partial redemptionare quickly and easily performed by any sales person. The information onthe recording sheets 15 may be entered onto the record pages 24 by otherpersonnel. A running account of the gift value outstanding may be keptby the entries on the certificate record pages 24 and monthly summarysheets 28.

The card is conveniently made of synthetic resin such as polyethylene orpolypropylene. Although both the information concerning the issuer andthe security label could be on the same side, generally it is preferableto imprint the issuer identification and marketing information on thefront surface and to affix the security label to the rear surface asindicated in FIG. 5.

The security label is conveniently provided by paper stock imprinted onits front face with appropriate legends and ideally with securityelements such as bar code, holographic image, etc. The label may alsoprovide for authentication and other entries. The rear surface of thelabel is coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive which will bond tothe surface of the card. Adhesion of the label to the card may beimproved by surface treatment of the card, if so desired. The adhesiveshould also bond securely to the surface of an underlying label in theinstance of a partial redemption.

The substrate is conveniently a paper stock provided on the frontsurface with a release coating to facilitate the removal of the securitylabels. The rear surface is coated with the first part of a reactive inkformulation.

The recording sheet is conveniently provided by a paper sheet imprintedwith box-like images as seen in FIG. 4, and it may also duplicate all ofthe printed indicia on the security label. The front surface is coatedwith the second part of the reactive ink formulation. Thus, when theclerk enters the data on the security label, the pressure of the ballpoint pen or the like ruptures the microcapsules of one part of thereactive formulation to release an agent which reacts with the otherpart of the reactive formulation to replicate the data entered onto therecording sheet.

Although the gift cards are illustrated as having been imprinted with amonetary value, the value may be for services such as hairdressings ordry cleaning, or merchandise such as food items. The term “value” asused herein is intended to be generic to currency services andmerchandise.

The gift cards may be displayed only since they have no value untilprovided with the security label, completed and authenticated.

Thus, it can be seen from the foregoing detailed specification andattached drawings that the manual gift card system of the presentinvention utilizes components which are relatively economical and whichenable facile and rapid entry of the data reflecting the gift. Moreover,the manual entry of the information on the label to be affixed to thecard simultaneously reproduces the information on a record sheet.Accordingly, entry of the data into ledgers or the like can be performedby personnel other than the sales clerk by personnel who are under lesspressure.

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A method for the issuance of gift cards comprisingthe steps of: a) providing a gift card imprinted with indiciaidentifying the issuer; b) manually imprinting on a first surface of asecurity label a security label number, the name of the recipient of thegift card, and the value of the gift; c) adhering the other surface ofsaid security label on said gift card; and d) manually imprinting on agift register the date of issuance, the security label number and thevalue of the gift.
 11. The method for the issuance of gift cards inaccordance with claim 10 wherein a multiplicity of said security labelshave the other surface releasably adhered upon one surface of asubstrate and wherein the security label is removed from said substrateand placed upon said gift card.
 12. The method for the issuance of giftcards in accordance with claim 11 wherein said gift register is arecording sheet disposed behind said substrate and upon which areimprinted the indicia being entered on said security label.
 13. Themethod for the issuance of gift cards in accordance with claim 12wherein the opposite surface of said substrate and the face of saidrecord sheet have cooperative interactive coatings thereon to effectsaid imprinting of said recording sheet.
 14. The method for the issuanceof gift cards in accordance with claim 10 wherein said security labelalso has security indicia imprinted thereon.
 15. A method for theissuance of gift cards comprising the steps of: a) providing a gift cardimprinted with indicia identifying the issuer; b) manually imprinting ona first surface of a security label a security label number, the name ofthe recipient of the gift card, and the value of the gift; c) adheringthe other surface of said security label on said gift card; d) manuallyimprinting on a gift register the date of issuance, a security labelnumber and the value of the gift; and e) after a recipient of the giftcard has a transaction with a value less than the value imprinted uponthe first mentioned security label, a second security label is imprintedwith the remaining value of the gift; and the second label ispermanently adhered over the first mentioned security label.
 16. Themethod for the issuance of gift cards in accordance with claim 15including the step of imprinting in a register the date and value of thepartial redemption and the remaining value imprinted upon the secondsecurity label.